Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi on Tuesday gave no sign whether OPEC would agree this year's second output rise when it meets next week, but confirmed that the kingdom had boosted production to 9 million barrels per day (bpd).
"When we meet on the fifth we will look at all the information available, and decide accordingly, on whatever the information tells us about supply, demand, inventories," Naimi told reporters in Singapore, where he is due to speak at an energy conference on Wednesday.
Asked when OPEC would increase supplies to the market, he said: "How do you expect me to know that?"
His comments come after Iran's oil minister said at the weekend that some ministers of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries were advocating an increase in production at the Dec. 5 meeting in Abu Dhabi, although most officials have said that they do not believe the market is short of crude oil.